Tracy Mcgrady is the Key for: Spoiler Aaron Brooks. First off, since the board is direly lacking in Tmac threads, I figured I would contribute one. Aaron Brooks is a good player. I believe he has potential to be very good. However he is not a point guard. This is not some revelation, I believe most would agree with the above statement. His decision making is not on the level of Luther Head, and his offense is more dynamic. However, at the end of the day, he is still a 5'11 shooting guard. As a stand alone player, I don't see him as starting material on a championship contender. You can develop a jump shot. You can improve defense with experience. But decision making isn't something you can just pick up. I see his ceiling as a Bobby Jackson type off the bench scorer. HOWEVER. If you can pair him with a play-making partner, that changes the whole ball game. This would let him focus on his strengths, and effectively hide his weakness. It would allow him to play as a SG which he excels at. Do you remember how he played at the end of game 2 against Portland, when there was 60 seconds left and we were down 8? Brooks didn't have time for decision making, the only thing he had time for was score. And he scored something like 11 points in 30 seconds. How about his "breakout" games against the Lakers? Was it a coincidence that they were without Yao Ming? Without having to worry about setting up the big man down low, Brooks could focus on attacking. This is when he is at his best. When he is attacking, not deciding. With a play making partner to relieve him of those duties, Brooks can be a capable starter, and scorer, on a contender. Which brings us to Mcgrady. Forget about his "inefficient" style. Forget about him playing off the ball. Mcgrady is the perfect fit next to Brooks. The only other two players I can think of being better would be Lebron James, and Brandon Roy. Players that can create for themselves and for others are mostly regarded as "elite". This means they won't be traded for damaged goods: Tmac. This also means we probably won't be able to acquire one, even if we gut the team. To me, that means the only chance for Aaron Brooks to remain a starter on our team, when we eventually contend again, is if he is playing alongside a healthy Mcgrady. I don't think this is impossible. I believe Mcgrady will return early in the season, if not game 1. I believe he will have a productive year. And I believe we will resign him in the off season. To the tune of ~10M/year. This fits with leebigez's "insider"s thoughts. This would be a good deal for a player of Tmac's caliber, even if he is damaged goods. This would also allow us to keep starting, and developing Brooks. If we trade Mcgrady or let him walk, I believe our next target for upgrade would have to be a point guard.
Wow I disagree. Aaron Brooks is a lot more quicker than Bobby could ever dream of, he's arguably the fastest player in the NBA. Bobby is a jump shooter, Brooks is turning into a deadly shooter and is a lot more physical offensively and gets to the rim easier. Bobby doesn't posses Aarons offensive skills set. I think Brooks will be a legit starter in this league.
Can't edit my post. Brooks wouldn't be that effective while Tracy runs the point because Tracy is a ball stopper and Brooks doesn't play very well without the ball.
False. Lebron is a ball stopper and Brooks would play the part of Mo Williams to perfection. I am not saying Mcgrady has to run the offense every possession. He is not as capable as Lebron. But when our offense inevitably breaks down, I would much rather the ball be in Mcgrady's hand, with Brooks waiting in the wings to finish, than the other way around. As for Brooks not playing well off the ball with Mcgrady. Take a look at how he played in his starts early in the season. He excelled in those games, and that was alongside Tmac. Morey even alluded to this as a reason for trading Rafer. Now will be the first time for him as a full time starter next to Mcgrady, which I believe was the plan all along.
This is beside the point. It doesn't matter which SG in PG's body comparison I chose. The point is Brooks is a shooting guard, which means he is playing off the bench on a contender, unless there is a play maker starting by his side.
While your post is very well tought out, It is based on the assumption that Tracy will be an effective player once again. If and when he returns he's back to shooting jumpers and not driving the ball, then he won't comand the defensive attention as before making him a less efficient playmaker. You have to command a double team or draw defenses to be a facilitator. It's a big "IF" for Tracy to come back to that status.
True. I am making a big assumption, which at this point is mostly speculation, and blind faith in Tim Grover. If Mcgrady comes back next year and is ineffective, we would not resign him. We would either trade him as an expiring contract, or let him walk. If this is the case, I believe we have to upgrade our PG next. Unless we get a play maker in exchange, which I highly doubt.
brooks is at his best with the ball in his hands. we just have to hope he can develop his vision and improve his passing. theres no way a guy with brooks' speed should be playing off the ball as a spot up shooter. mo williams' best asset is his ability to shoot off the dribble, while brooks is more of a slasher to the basket. brooks can't create his shoot off the dribble as well as mo can but he's much faster.
Playing off the ball doesn't necessarily mean being a spot up shooter. He can still use his speed by cutting to the basket, or catching defenders off balance when they are recovering. Also, for everyone who keeps saying he somehow can't play next to Mcgrady because he "needs the ball in his hands", drop the imaginary theories for a second, and look at some facts. The main reason why Morey decided to trade Rafer in the first place was because Brooks played so well as a starter next to Mcgrady.
Actually passing can be developed better with time. Playing point guard is not something a half a year strter would be instantly better than Billups would be. Sometimes it takes time like Billups took and like Nash took. Nash was not a 10 assists and 20 point a night guy until Phoenix. Billups wasnt the type of player he was either until Detroite after some years of developement at the PG position. Brooks directly correlates with these two players in that he can just as effective as these two with time at the position. I mean more than year of backup and half at starting. Just like Chauncey. In fact Chauncey probley had less skills and was less of a player than Brooks at this point early in his career. I would say Brooks is closer to stardom than some think already.
I think the point here has flown over a few heads. Let me break it down for the slower folks: Brooks on his own = spark plug off the bench on a contender Brooks + a play maker = starting back court on a contender Mcgrady = play maker when healthy Brooks + healthy Mcgrady = starting back court on a contender If Mcgrady != healthy then we need to upgrade PG because Brooks on his own = spark plug off the bench on a contender THEREFORE The key to Aaron Brooks' role, and development, is Tracy Mcgrady. IMHO, of course.
It is more about decision making than passing. I've actually seen Brooks make plenty of nice passes. It is when he has the ball in his hands, Yao Ming in the post calling for the ball, and he dribbles for 15 seconds straight because he can not decide what to do, THAT is what gets him in trouble. Brooks is 24 years old. Name me one player who could not make decisions on the fly, then suddenly developed that at 24.
I don't care what you guys think of my opinion, but McGrady by himself on one leg is better then most 2 and 3s at playmaking. If he's healthy, I would love for him to penetrate and kick it out to the weapons we have.
i dont kno about on one leg but a healthy mcgrady is in the top 5 2 gaurds in the league. 2 gaurds kobe wade roy mrgady the fifth idk
That is also experience and chemistry as well. The main thing with Brooks atm is his lack of game time experience at the NBA level. PG's in particular need consistent playing time to work out the 'tricks of the trade,' to get familiar with the pace of the game and to gain on court chemistry with their team mates. As stated above with Billups and to a lesser extent Nash, the PG position takes a long while to figure out. Few PG's come straight out of college and are immediately good decision makers. In regards to yao - Brooks is EXTREMELY undersized. He uses his speed and ability to create his own show to be effective however because of his height, it restricts him in other areas of the game - ala post entry passes and kickouts due to the length of the rest of the NBA. Last year, on a fair few occasions, we saw how well he beat his own man, attracted the help and THEN dished to Yao for an easy bucket. Bottom line is IMO, Brooks is never going to be a STAR player just because he has limitations. He can however, be very effective because what he does well, (speed and shooting) he does real well. My 2 cents Matty101
Its not that brooks is hesitant, its more like the biggest player in the league gives the smallest window. Have u noticed the only guy that can really get tha ball to yao is tracy? Why is that? We're talking about basically a perfect pass everytime and that's very,very hard to do.
I agree part of the problem is definitely Yao, but that was just one example. There are plenty of times Brooks would dribble aimlessly, even when Yao was not in the game. He simply struggles when asked to "run the team". He is a great player when his sole responsibility is to attack. Having a play maker like Tracy by his side would allow that.
i agree 100 % but i do think aaron needs the ball to be more effective while feeding our wings for threes. whats going to happen is that T-MAC going to run the half court offense if we cant get a quick bucket off the fast break which most definatly is going to be ignited by aaron brooks
By ballstopper, i think u mean someone that doesn't swing the ball around on a reverse. Consider this though...if you have.a McGrady that can create a double or triple team and ACCURATELY make the pass out to the shooter, wouldn't Brooks flourish?
